KAST KENT NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 11 



zonini : — 1st. The red Corpuscles of the Blood, though circular, 

 agree in structure with tlie same corpuscles of all other Pyre- 

 nsemata. 2nd. Though usually described as " Dermopteri without 

 Fin-rays," these rays, composed of cartilage-cells, were plainly 

 shown in the fins of these fishes. 3rd. The Lens-fihres are 

 smooth, being destitute of the indentations and interlocking of the 

 edges, so characteristic of most fishes. 4th. The male has at this 

 season a distinct Penis, and the females a similar but broader and 

 shorter process. The organ in both sexes has a single central and 

 longitudinal canal, through which the generative and urinary 

 products pass ; and it is probable that there is a true copulation. 

 5th. Plafi/elminthes in the brain in every one of the Lampreys that 

 were examined, and these Entozoa so abundant as to fill the space 

 between the skull and brain, and often pressing into the cerebral 

 substance, but not found in or about the nerves elsewhere. These 

 new worms may be called, provisionally, Neuronaia Lampetrw, 

 as being allied to, though very diflerent from, N. Monroii, de- 

 scribed by Goodsir, in the nerves of the cod-fish family. Many 

 of these facts are detailed and figured in the ' Proc. Zool. Soc,.' 

 December Gth, 1870. 



May '25th. — No microscopic business, the meeting being 

 occupied with Mr. Fullagar's description of the metamorphoses 

 of Libellula, and by Mr. James Eeid's observations on the 

 labellum in Orchis fusca and the allied species. 



June Sth. — Mr. FuUagar and Mr. Harvey showed the vibratile 

 cilia on the surface of the gills of a larval Triton. Mr. Gulliver 

 exhibited what he described as the Intestinal Respiration in a 

 worm of the Naid family. This creature, common in the pools 

 about Canterbury, is colorless, about a quarter of an inch in 

 length, very thin, with flat segments, mostly having long and 

 slender lateral hairs, and the body so pellucid as to admit of 

 admirable views of the phenomenon. The vivid action of the 

 vibratile cilia within the intestine, and the rapid and incessant 

 current of the water over the cilia, afforded a most remarkable 

 spectacle, and left little doubt that this is a true respiration, 

 heretofore so obscure, in the abranchiate w'orms. Mr. Gulliver 

 added that the action may be seen in Scenuris variegata. 



June 22nd. — The manner of feeding, and the structure of the 

 nettle-cells and threads of the Hydra polyps were exhibited by 

 Mr. Fullagar and Mr. Harvey ; and Mr. Bell displayed the 

 structure of the Spiracles and Tracheae of insects. Extempora- 

 neous preparations were made and examined, of the peculiar leaf- 

 cells of Sphagnum ; and in like manner the Osseous Granules 

 were shown in an insectivorous mammal, and in the boiled bones 

 of the codfish. 



July 5th. — The members of the Society were hospitably en- 

 tertained by Colonel Horsley, at his residence, St. Stephen's 

 Lodge. The anatomy of a fresh female specimen of Qordius was 

 explained. Mr. EuUagar presented beautiful examples of the 

 Stigmata, and their perforated plates, of Ixodes ricinua. Mr. 



